Canterbury Industry

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31143, 20 August 1966, Page 13

Canterbury Industry

The regional manager of Lustralian Consolidated Inlustries (Mr J. K. Dobson) kid that the company was Bso investigating exports to he West Coast of America kid Canada. Jamaica and Irinidad. I Mr Dobson said that it was bit that quite a good range of fomestic. household and delorative glassware produced It Hornby, could be marketed h the United States. I This would mean that Christchurch craftsmen, and Is more than 20 highlykilled glass-blowers, would be competing in America [gainst those from Scandin[via and the Continent. “About half of our glassblowers have been trained bere.” said Mr Dobson. “The fest we brought out from Germany. [Trained By Germans I "The Gentians helped train Bie New Zealanders to become fully-qualified glassllowers." Mr Dobson described glassblowing at Hornby, as a [killed manipulation of molten glass and forming it both ly mouth blowing and by land. The glass-blowers form the

The lime is quarried at Takaka and railed to the factory as required. Soda ash is imported either from Great Britain or South Africa. Constant Temperature At Hornby all the raw materials are stored in a batch house. They are kept in large chutes operated by hand levers. As each batcn Is prepared, the raw materials are poured into a large bin w’hich at the same time weighs the amount loaded in. When all the materials have been mixed, the contents of the bin are emptied into a large duct. From here they are conveyed into hoppers above furnaces. In the back of the furnace or tank, as it is commonly known, is an automatic stoker which feeds the raw materials into the tank, a little at a time in a continuous action. The stoker is fed with the raw materials from the hopper above it To melt the materials, the furnaces are kept at a constant temperature of 2700 degrees F. by means of oilfired burners. The furnaces at Crown